


this is how you toast

by cloudfactories



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Comedy, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Shoplifting, Sitcom, Weddings, can't believe i found renwoo tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24893071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudfactories/pseuds/cloudfactories
Summary: Mark and Donghyuck celebrate their 3rd anniversary on an ill-fated day which coincided with their first-time shop-lifting anniversary gifts. Never forget to buy your significant other gifts, kids!
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Kim Jungwoo, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Kudos: 18





	this is how you toast

**Author's Note:**

> +i had fun writing around this odd idea(?). But i do not condone any of the shoplifting, even if its for your s/o. i played around with transitions this time and i feel like it turned out well?

Mark stood beside their messily ruffled bed, which depicted what kind of night the couple had had. It was better if Mark had the time to straighten the corners or changed the spoilt bed-sheets before Jungwoo came parading inside their apartment unannounced. Anything that couldn’t posit the question that the couple hadn’t fucked like rabbits earlier that night.

“Oh…did you have hard sex last night? Your bed looks like it had been through a war.”

Anything that could have avoided that question.

“Well, it is our anniversary today so why not?” Mark shrugged whilst throwing the effort of cleaning the scene, as he picked up a piece of lingerie with the tip of his fingers, “We had cake and a nice dinner. Donghyuck makes a mean bowl of tomato soup. After that, one thing lead to another-Wait, why am I telling you this?”

“You tell me.” Jungwoo mused, as he sighed the next before twirling himself to the kitchen. He had a strange flair to him, which more or less appealed to Mark to accept him as a close friend. Yes, Mark had a habit of finding a quirk in humans to make them viable as a friend and Jungwoo met all those points. He was kind in a way Mark couldn’t comprehend. Sometimes, Jungwoo would be there in the worst times to leave you nothing but a stupid string of words that made you feel better about yourself. Sometimes, he would be there, waiting and waiting until you (or Jungwoo himself) would propose to go out of sorts.

The last bit would explain in a few sentences.

Mark followed Jungwoo’s trails, to find him stuffing roses in a glass he found lying in the sink. The glass he believed belonged to Donghyuck and was his favourite. However before he could point it out, Jungwoo shushed with his closely knitted eyebrows, and purse of lips which meant to leave his bubble of concentration alone. Mark knew he would be harangued upon by Donghyuck, nagging on and on about how he never said anything to Jungwoo.

But it was okay. Mark could handle it.

“Where is Donghyuck, though?” Jungwoo asked, as he continued picking at the flower stalks, squinting at the level of water. Mark incited a grunt from the back of his throat, rubbing his nape.

“He is at Renjun’s apartment. He had an emergency, he said…and ran away there early morning. He never explained why.”

“Ugh…I never liked that Renjun guy.” Jungwoo rolled his eyes, sitting on one of the stools beside the island. The flower wilted over the rim of the mug and Mark felt bad for it. So he sauntered across the living room and while he emptied the mug over the sink, he listened to Jungwoo babble about how much he despised Renjun. The slosh of the water from the sink blurred most of Jungwoo’s profanities thrown here and there but Mark knew Jungwoo would be talking about the cursed day of July 17 th .

“.…And it was July 17th and that month…” Mark twisted the faucet off and dried off the mug before he turned it on and let the water flow over the rose petals. It looked clean enough so he let it rest over the marbled shelf. ”…er goes off and pours all his wine over me. But not only me. Oh, he had things going on. He tanked my date. She was so beautiful. I lost her because of that idiot and his ill shenanigans that he intended to rain over me.”

“I am sure it was not his intention.” Perhaps, it was the nth time Mark had said that but it never seemed to convince Jungwoo. Mark always hoped that Jungwoo would recite the events of the night as he concatenated in his head so he could say those exact lines and to his amusement, Jungwoo did. The night was less aggressive than Jungwoo described because Renjun, as he mentioned, never intended to spill the drink over his Armani suit. Poor guy tripped over the dress over the said date and well, resulted in a night of embarrassment and Jungwoo’s never-ending hostility.

But to Jungwoo’s defence, Renjun never apologized.

“So what did you decide to buy for Donghyuck? I mean it’s your 3 rd anniversary of having regular sex, regular dinner and living together with no other commitment.”

“Are you saying something? I feel like you are saying something with underlying meanings of which I have no idea of.” Mark rubbed his chin and sat beside Jungwoo, nudging his shoulders to ask if he wanted a stale cup of coffee. He shook his head and looked at him bizarrely, waiting impatiently for his answer. Mark shrugged which enticed a groan from Jungwoo, as he cupped his head in his palms.

“Aren’t you going to ask him to marry or something? I am tired of seeing you hesitate over this when I, as well as you, know very well that you want to marry him. Get his last name on you or something.”

“For your information, we both have the same last names. Plus, we are not keen on getting married. Yes, maybe, I want to stay with him and watch the wedding ring glint off his fingers. Maybe, I want a grand wedding where I will brag Donghyuck off to everyone and say that I love him in front of everyone-”

“You do that on a daily basis.”

“-Shut up!” He swung a slap on Jungwoo’s knee to which the latter hissed, “Maybe…when I am well-off enough and finally get the promotion I wanted, I want to adopt a kid. But these are all hopeless dreams and today is only the 3 rd anni-”

**“You forgot to buy a gift, didn’t you?”**

“Well, it…I didn’t forget, obviously.” Donghyuck chuckled nervously as he saw Renjun’s face pull in a frown, “I mean, just accompany me to the store. Yay! Best friends going shopping! A scene we don’t see every day!”

“You don’t sound very convincing.” Renjun opened the front door ajar, the corner of his sleeves caught on to the knob as he leaned on it, “But, let’s see…do I have any other choice other than indulging in your idiotic buffoonery?”

“That’s what a best friend is for!” Donghyuck frolicked himself inside the apartment, throwing his shoes behind him which made Renjun sigh. Massaging his forehead with his fingers, he followed a rather pumped up Donghyuck into the kitchen, who seemingly wasn’t sorry that he had forgotten to buy his boyfriend a gift. Although, according to Renjun only and not to all the all-knowing teens, being solemn about not buying their significant other a gift, and spending all day rambling about it, was a waste of time.

Don’t judge Renjun, he had a lot to deal with.

“So? Aren’t we going shopping?” Renjun eyed Donghyuck who scavenged through his fridge for a snack, “Why are you looking for a snack?”

“I left without eating any breakfast so I need something to nibble while we unfold our 12 step plan for shoplifting!” He said so casually, before gasping once he had his hands upon a frozen Poptart. Renjun never could pull his hands from his forehead, whenever he was with Donghyuck because he never ceased to be a headache. But that time, he went a little too overboard.

“Why are we shoplifting?” Renjun walked towards Donghyuck and snatched the Poptart from his hand, to shove it into his own mouth. Donghyuck bit his lips in childish rage as he tried to claw the Poptart back, but Renjun dodged every one of his ministrations. He eventually gave up, sulking as he blew strawberries with his lips.

“I don’t have my wallet with me.”He shrugged, before turning once again with snoop through the kitchen cupboards.

“Well, did you think I was poor enough to go shoplifting with you? You are inside a 15million worth of an apartment and you are asking me to go shoplifting with you?”

“Okay…! Way to kill my enthusiasm!” He clicked his tongue as he saw the empty cupboards open in front of him, “Plus, ever since I entered your apartment, you have been talking in questions.”

“I guess so.” Donghyuck sat beside him as he found an expired energy bar, luckily, in one of Renjun’s upper shelves. He sat down, quietly, munching on it as he darted his eyes back ad forth from the snack to tick Renjun in that awkward atmosphere he had created.

“I think shops have hardcore security now, not to hurt your chutzpah or anything.” Renjun said, still hanging on his half-eaten Poptart while his other hand drew mindless circles on the marble top of his island, “You ought to be careful with your shoplifting spree or whatever.”

“I am not doing it alone. Just tag along with me once. Plus, we are going to those thrift stores right across the flea market. I am sure they don’t have that beep-boop machine to tell us off.”

“Sure they don’t.” Renjun heaved an exasperated sigh, deeming it was better to give in to Donghyuck’s unfathomable requests. He didn’t want to tick Donghyuck’s defence mechanism more than he did because he knew he would summon his hour-long lecture, why it was okay to shoplift once in a while. The supportive points wouldn’t make sense and Renjun would be wasting his time. The morning was trashed enough with Donghyuck’s appearance alone.

“So what do you intend to shoplift?” Renjun corrected himself with his finger paused in the air, “What does Mark like for a gift?”

“I want to give him a toaster,” Donghyuck said casually, dumping the half-eaten energy bar down the sink. Renjun stood up, with a scorned twist of his face, and passed by Donghyuck to pick up the said wrapped up food from the sink and discarded it in the trash. Donghyuck followed him with his eyes and continued, “Solely for the reason that I love toasts.”

“Shouldn’t the gift be intended for him? It seems to me like you are indulging on it just for yourself.”

“A gift goes…”Donghyuck flipped two of his fingers up, “…two ways. He loves making toasts for me and I love eating it. It’s a win-win situation for both of us.”

**“I feel like you are missing the point.”**

“No see…I love making toasts. He loves eating toasts.” Mark explained, with fingers dug into his dishevelled hair, eyes stretched wide, “It’s a win-win situation for both of us!”

Jungwoo shook his shoulders and mumbled out, “Eh…”, which was evident enough that he didn’t want to be included in Mark’s discourse on “Toasts” anymore. He didn’t even say anything, but Mark went over his head to explain why the “toast” was the overriding part of the shoplifting ordeal. It was just a gift, according to Jungwoo, but he was more interested in his elaborate plan on the latter, shoplifting part. Mark couldn’t comprehend why Jungwoo wanted to shoplift when they could normally buy one.

“Oh, blame your to-be-husband. He is always making me watch these heist movies.”

Mark didn’t want to fuel Jungwoo’s chutzpah more than he already did because he knew Jungwoo would be going overboard with his plans, as he settled on the thrift shop opposite of the flea market for their shoplifting due to the reason they don’t have the machines to notice them walking away with a bulky toaster. He didn’t understand why the operation was taking place at the thrift shop, where the products were already second-handed and cheap. Jungwoo didn’t care to expand on that either and ignored Mark’s pesters, probably because he didn’t have a reason to support it.

“I am sure Donghyuck wouldn’t mind if we steal his gifts rather than invest in it.” Jungwoo placated Mark’s tensed shoulders with light pats, “I think he will probably join me on it.”

“Yeah…I think so too.” Mark mused, letting a soft breath roll out afterwards. Jungwoo snagged the notepad where he had nonsensical scribbles marked all over it, justifying nothing but his all-over-the-place mentality. But he let Jungwoo have his fun because he looked absolutely over the moon, when rambling off about the plan, not letting Mark interrupt any of it.

The plan was nothing elaborate, just steal and run. So, Mark couldn’t comprehend why Jungwoo had spent the last 30 minutes just explaining those simple terms.

“Andele! Andele!” Jungwoo shot his arms in the air, while Mark groaned, shimmying out of his pants in a hurry, “The shop will be on a break 3 hours from now. We can’t waste that much time on your styling tendencies. We are going shopping, not a run.”

Mark chewed his bottom lips, murmuring “I know. I know” beneath his breath, as he tried on the sparse clothes lying on his floors. Whether it was the loose silk shirt he wore last evening, or the pants were unbuttoned on his waist, it didn’t bother Jungwoo at all, as he yanked Mark from the bedroom, in an unexplained haste.

“This better be worth it,” Mark warned, while Jungwoo pretended to be oblivious to the petty nags Mark gibbed all throughout the lift ride. He fumbled with his buttons, sighing upon the fact that without a belt the pants would slip over his hips from time to time. If he wanted to be suspected as a homeless guy, riding on the intentions to be stealing a second-handed toaster, that was it. The whole costume. Plus, Donghyuck didn’t come short of his ability to tear off a part of the sleeve during their sexual episode yesterday, so that remained a well evident stain on his whole presentation.

So much for remaining covert.

Mark turned to his side, studying Jungwoo tensed profile before gingerly mentioning,

**“I bought my wallet with me, just in case.”**

“Now why the hell would you do that?” Donghyuck raged, “As I said-” Donghyuck pulled the door to the cab before climbing in, pulling his voice to a low murmur, “We are going shoplifting. Not buying gifts.”

Renjun shot a look at the driver, through the peer glass as he shaped a polite smile before aggressively snapping his neck to Donghyuck, eyeing him. He didn’t know what had got into him and what kind of craze led to him to perform a petty trivial heist but it was seriously getting on Renjun’s nerves.

“What if we get caught during? If you can’t pay, at least let me be the last resort.”

Donghyuck slapped his hands in the air defensively, obviously upset that Renjun had the bravery to bring his wallet with him, even after he spent the last 30 minutes explaining the reason he shouldn’t do exactly so. Well, the reasons were not exactly sensible for a “no-nonsense” person like Renjun. So it made sense why he would bring his wallet with him, but disappointing that he wouldn’t trust Donghyuck.

Donghyuck lolled his head against the tinted windows of the taxi, trying to summon sleep over him for the 1-hour ride to the thrift shop, praying that once he would wake up he wouldn’t have to regret his decision. He was totally knackered after last night, because he couldn't even get a blink of shut-eye. It wasn’t Mark’s fault really, but more of his as he kept riling the other on the subject of well, sex. The car jerked forward as they were stuck in the middle of a populated traffic, that Donghyuck’s limp posture swayed to fall upon Renjun’s side. He nuzzled deep in the crook of the latter’s neck, breathing in the scent of Hermes, lulling him to the sleep he was expecting. Despite the screeches of the horns, and the buzz of the civilians outside, he could finally pull his eyelids close under the soothing strokes of Renjun’s palms over his hand.

Safe place.

**“Sunshine, buddy! We are here!”**

The jolly holler pulled Mark out of his dream world, as he ripped himself away from Jungwoo’s sweaty sides. The air conditioner in the taxi was on the fritz, while the windows reflected the scorching heat of the urban California outside, letting Mark sigh in annoyance. The stickiness of the crowd and the huffs of exhaustion, Mark could already feel it echoing through which enticed Mark to squirm in discomfort.

“Let’s hurry up, a’right?” Mark pleaded and Jungwoo was content, evident from the wide smile stretched on the lower half of his face. He inched his hand over to the driver and presented with scrunched up bills of 10s. The money, unquestionably, came from Mark’s wallet, which in contrast to Jungwoo’s prior claims, came to be handy.

“I wonder how you could have paid the driver if I didn’t bring my wallet with me,” Mark whined, and Jungwoo didn’t answer. They manoeuvred themselves among the populated swarms of people along the pavement, screeches and muffled laughs drumming against his ears. Mark repeated the same lines again, just in a roundabout way, intentionally ticking off Jungwoo. It wasn’t until they reached an intersection, that Jungwoo turned around, interrupting him in the middle of his ramblings,

“-Yes, I understand! There is no time for an “I told you so” segment. So hurry up your ass!” Mark chuckled yet nodded at Jungwoo’s child blurts, because more than threatening it sounded cuter. It reminded him of Donghyuck, who couldn’t harangue him for a minute longer since he would burst out laughing anyway.

When they reached the thrift shop, which resembled a “Good Will” charity outlet in a way, Mark found himself gulping nervously. He knew Jungwoo wouldn’t back off; cowardliness didn’t come easy to him as much it did to him. He flickered his eyes to yet again, the tensed jaws of Jungwoo, meaning he was cooking something in his mind that couldn’t quite reach Mark. Mark couldn’t read Jungwoo, ever.

“Hey…”Mark pulled on Jungwoo’s sleeves, “Are we going in? Or are we going to imagine that we robbed the toaster from the shop from here? The latter-”

“I was just thinking.” Jungwoo nonchalantly brushed Mark’s grip off him, “Let’s go inside.”

“If it was so causal to me how it is to YOU!” Mark lamented, trailing behind the tall silhouette. He obstructed his face with Jungwoo’s hugely built body and peered with rounded eyes ever so often. Jungwoo seemed fearless as he made a beeline across the store to the household items corner of the store, impassiveness and genuine listlessness shadowing on his visage.

_ He could have been an actor,  _ Mark thought inwardly as the mustard walls of the far end become visible so does his budding fear of getting caught in his throat,  _ if he didn’t flop the auditions. _

__

The retail clerks were dismissive as they always were; two men in tight whites uniforms in an engrossing conservation as they petered into loud guffaws while another blonde girl buffed her nails, as she leaned on one of the shelves. Ignorant as they are, Jungwoo took advantage of them as he slipped like a gecko behind one of the shelves that contained pottery, utensils and metal paraphernalia.

“Mark! Oi!” Jungwoo ushered with a flap of his hand and breathy noises as the latter crept in carefully.

“You take the toaster under the two sexy man noses…shit, they sexy.” Mark gave him a look, “Right. Sorry. Take the toaster, I’ll do some hetero magic on the girl right there. Flirty skills you earned during auditions never go to waste.”

“Take the toaster and then what?”

“Oh…you-um-hide in the clothing pile. It will camouflage it right until I spellbind the lady real good and divert her attention away. I will come back in a jiffy, take the toaster and you back home.”

Jungwoo never explained any of his plans carefully but Mark didn’t mind. He could throw the toaster in the pile of clothes and busy himself in the cereal section of the shop. Jungwoo could keep an eye on it.

**“Ugh.”**

“Renjun, come on.” Donghyuck hopped on his feet, lips puckered and tousled hair flopping, “One time! We are here anywhere so might as well get on with it.”

“I have my card with me and…I am not partaking in your shoplifting endeavours.” Renjun remained firm with his business-like crossed arms on his chest and tough cock of his eyebrows. Donghyuck knew the perfect words to break him out of his shell.

“Mark and I are getting married. So this might be the last-”

“For real?” The hands fell limp on his side as his face broke into glee.

“Yes.”  _ No, obviously, _ “So this might be the last time we can mess around. Be kids until I get to walk on that aisle to become an adult.”

“I am sure…Mark is walking down that aisle and that aisles are for marriage, not belated adultery transition.”

“Yeah yeah. Tomato-Tomahto. Now come on, please?” He stretched the last syllables for effect and “Puss-In-Boots”-ed his eyes, so that Renjun could successfully fall in his trap.

“Stop doing the Coochie eyes thing.” Renjun grabbed on Donghyuck’s shoulders and yanked him towards the entrance, “Let’s get this over with.”

As they entered the shop, Renjun noticed the number of workers present in their line of vision. One of the ladies, who seemed bored out of her wits as some guy chatted her up stood far up in the household items aisle. On the left, stood pointlessly two young man, who-off subject- were hot as hell. Renjun reluctantly tore his eyes off them, and stationed it on the clothing pile, where a toaster was strangely tucked in. Donghyuck kept poking his sides, until Renjun pointed straight at the mayhem yet a gracious gift of God.

“No way. How did your hawk eyes get there?”

“More importantly, what even on earth is a toaster doing there?”

“I don’t know but someone just saved our asses.”

Once the whispers were pulled to a close, Renjun tip-toed there while Donghyuck ensued a whole dramatic “spy movie” sequence with stretching of his legs, twist of his waist as his eyes darted around like a disco ball. Renjun could only groan in frustration and pull out his hair strands. He quickly went in, and fished out the toaster before hiding it in under his coat, which he oh-so-carefully remembered to wear. It was 86 outside but who cared except Renjun’s wealthy integrity

“Oh cool-you decided to bring your 2000 worth coat so that you can hide in the toasters in. Who knew you would become like this?”

“Like what?”

“Like not-a-stuck-up-snob”

“I didn’t know-” Renjun words stopped on the tip of the tongue, as he heard alarms blaring everywhere. His eyes wide, as he looked anywhere and everywhere, focus blurring on the blob of people rushing towards the exit. There was a dark figure who rushed instantly through his line of vision and he couldn’t figure out who it was actually. He darted to look to his left where Donghyuck was supposed to stand, wet in a cold sweat and a baffled mask pulled on his face but he vanished. There was no sign of him.

He craned his neck back, to see the two employees gone so was the leaning woman. The flirtatious was out of sight, and the ones that stayed at the counter looked evidently alarmed. Renjun should have known that all shops were modernized and aware enough to set up machines. It was the cavern of goons and hooligans, especially at alleys like that. But Renjun knew it was not them, since they hadn’t exited the shop yet but Donghyuck, empty air-head, ran away anyway.

“Oh shit. Donghyuck, it was not us. Why the hell did you run away?” Renjun mumbled under his breath, clueless of what to do next. The toaster was still snuggled close to his side, hands curled securely on its side. Lips upturned, he thought of what to do next as he stamped his shoes repeatedly on the cheap tiled floor. No wonder he never went by Donghyuck’s plans.

Sighing, he gave in to the thought of buying it for the sake of the couple’s anniversary. Thank god, he bought money with him. He scampered through the then-empty warehouse and planted the toaster on the counter, with a grim expression painted on his face.

**_“You look haunting.”_ **

****

“Thanks Jungwoo.” It only hit him then as he hastily looked at his right, “Wait, Jungwoo.”

“Thanks for calling my name twice when I expected you not even remember my name.” Jungwoo tipped the corner of his lips, coyly. Renjun rolled his eyes at the farthest as he could, gurgling from the inner throat. Jungwoo was so arrogant, just as he remembered from three months back.

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself.” Renjun fished out his wallet, to roll up the cash and pay to the bored lady in front of them, “I only remembered it because I knew you wouldn’t. Can’t relate to an empty brained air-head.”

Jungwoo chewed the inside of his cheeks as he folded his arms on his chest, as he scrutinized him from head to toe. It made him chuckle darkly, and Renjun knew he was trying to string up some insulting comeback to throw at him.

“Lilliput.”

“Come up with something creative, okay?” Renjun grinned as the lady handed him the packed toaster. The toaster was already heavy but the extra cupboard box only added to the weight. He winced but still tried to appear strong, since Jungwoo was inspecting his every move.

“Let me help you with that.” Jungwoo said, after a minute of pondering. He didn’t feel sorry exactly, but it was an act of benevolence in exchange for another one. Renjun knew that, better than anyone.

“For?”

“Help me buy this cheap-ass ring for Mark. He is going to propose to Donghyuck tonight.”

**“I thought they were already engaged.”**

**“He thought we were already engaged.”**

Mark and Donghyuck walked side by side, hands clasped in the middle as they both slurped on fruit smoothies. They met halfway, when the other employees chased the fugitive and found themselves left at the back, with no one tailing them whatsoever. As they both looked at their dumbfounded faces, they both burst into tiring guffaws which lasted quite a while. It garnered some side-eyes from the bystanders but they didn’t care. Donghyuck was convinced it was more because of Mark’s mad-man laugh, so he spent the latter 5 minutes teasing him about it.

“So…he gave in. Plus, my puppy eyes aren’t that easy to ignore.”

“Ooh…”Mark slurped a bit of the juice before quipping, “I second that.”

“You think-” Donghyuck tightened his fingers, into the gaps of Mark’s. It was more of a nervous hold and Mark knew something was clouding his mind, that he couldn’t word. His hands were sweaty and sticky because of the smoothies, but he didn’t mind. It was nice striding along the yellow stained footpath, steering through the crowds with occasional shoulder bumps and trips. But they didn’t let go of each other's hands, and even Mark squeezed Donghyuck’s hands back, the words were left unsaid.

“Hey….” He yanked Donghyuck back, as the latter and his back plastered on Mark’s chest. The smoothies left stains on their hand at the corner of his lips, as the ray of setting sunlight showered upon Donghyuck’s brunette locks. He looked better with that colour, Mark remembered complimenting him once.

“Would you…” The crowds are still moving past them carelessly as if they had somewhere to go, but for all Mark knew time stopped here. Donghyuck’s eyes were searching for an answer in his eyes, but he would have found none. He really didn’t want it to unravel like that, not when he had failed a shoplifting operation, ran from a shop half-embarrassed and half-scared out his wits.

“...Speak up, idiot. If not, we would be swamped with these Californians.”

Mark exhaled hoarsely…”Would you marry me?”

“I don’t want to marry you,” Donghyuck replied, his voice plain and unnerving. It sucked the soul away from Mark.

“I need to marry you. Or else, who would make toasts and go on shoplifting endeavours with me. For all I know, Renjun would never.”

Mark should shut him up with a kiss now, as all the white hombres do in movies. Of course, he inched his neck forward, pressing his lips against the other, moulding perfectly. He loved the bow of Donghyuck’s lips, how it tickled with his own chapped one and how Donghyuck would slowly slip his tongue outside to wet it. How he would scoop his neck forwards, and envelop his puckered lips fully into his, as if he would disappear if he let go. Clutched shirt collars, the end of his hair gripped tight, Mark would find himself smiling. Oh-how much he would never miss those…because now it would be a part of dilly-dallying life.

**“Get a room, you morons!”**

Once they were back home, Mark found a bewildering ordeal taking place in his kitchen. Renjun was up on the counter, shirtless while a half-bare Jungwoo was humping on his thigh. The position was weird but they looked like they were having the time of their lives.

“I-I bought-toaster…”Renjun moaned in the middle of Jungwoo harshly kissing (or bit) his neck. His finger couldn’t even stay upright on air, while Donghyuck threw the apartment keys on the dish and studied them from a distance, for a bit

“Jungwoo stop humping on him. Renjun, speak once you are done with it. Our guest bedroom is wide open, and we would appreciate if you could take this fateful rendezvous somewhere else.” Donghyuck pointed at the open door for the guest which he kindly did earlier. Mark was traumatized, so he kept his eyes fixed elsewhere. With some huffs, wails and groan, Jungwoo took the deed to the bedroom. Not to mention, Renjun hung clutched his body like a koala, and had the audacity to wave before they slammed the door behind them.

“Good for them. Finally they can move past their faux pas du vin.” Donghyuck said, as he walked towards Mark and chastely kissed his cheeks, “I am going to sleep so I can’t hear them working it out.”

“Sure. Yeah. It’s loud.” Mark added lastly,  **_“I’ll join you.”_ **

\---

“No, you go and give some pep-talk to Mark. He must be so nervous.” Renjun said, still not lifting his eyes off the beige coloured table cloth. All-day, he had been complaining about the minuscule differences on the table cloth he ordered, but was delivered a beige one. Jungwoo tailed him throughout the wedding hall, as Renjun continued to harangue someone on the phone, about the difference between “egg-shell” and “beige”.

“Weren’t you supposed to join Donghyuck at the salon?”

“Oh right. I completely forgot.” Renjun gasped, pulling his palm to cover his ajar mouth. Jungwoo leaned in and gave a chaste kiss on his chipped ring on his forefinger, before pulling the latter’s hands down.

“You are going mad,” Jungwoo whispered, centimetres away from Renjun’s lips. The close proximity incited a crimson hue to colour his cheeks, as he quickly turned his head away, excusing that people were looking (or lack thereof). Jungwoo hummed and reclined back, not forgetting to flick the tip of Renjun’s nose with his finger. It made Renjun laugh, as he patted Jungwoo on the cleft of his ass sneakily.

“You know what, Mark is already here at the venue. I think Donghyuck must have arrived. Oh fuck, the guest must be arriving in a matter of time. So Jungwoo, for the sake of your fiance, can you go and talk to Mark? I am going to join Donghyuck in a moment.”

“Yes, Sir!” Jungwoo stumped one of his legs on the floor and wrung his arms close to his forehead to a salute.

“Alright, cute. Now go!”

Jungwoo soon came into confrontation with the door that led to Mark. One of the waiters pointed him there, quickly adding that Renjun was going haywire with the decorations and summoned all of them at the dining hall. Jungwoo mumbled a “best of luck!” as the waiter scurried to the dining hall, without leaving any time to waste. He knew how strict Renjun was all the wedding planning, given that he worked hard towards it for three months.

_ “It’s my best friend’s wedding! Do you think I will leave anything to spare?”  _ Renjun said to him one evening after a steamy sex session they had. Not a great time to mention something like that but right after that, Renjun crippled to the front door, saying that he had cakes to taste. Jungwoo couldn’t even imagine what hell would break loose at their own wedding.

When he opened the door, sitting there wasn’t Mark. But Donghyuck, pissed off and huffing in anger. 

“The moron finally decided to show himself.”

Jungwoo pointed at himself, as Donghyuck peered accusingly through the reflection.

“Where is Renjun?” Jungwoo took a seat at a couch, inclined towards the wall at the back. Donghyuck still followed his every action through the mirror, which seemed a bit creepy. More awkward than creepy, since Jungwoo never seemed to be in the same room as Donghyuck ever before. There was always Mark or Renjun accompanying them.

“He is downstairs.”

“Oh. I guess I should let him be.” Donghyuck shrugged, casting his eyes down at his fumbling fingers. Jungwoo noticed, puckering and straightening his mouth, figuring if he should say something.

“You should run away while you still can.”

“What?!” Donghyuck craned his neck back, eyeing him fiercely.

“No…” Jungwoo waved his hands nervously, “Not a great ice-breaking joke I guess.”

“Yeah. No shit.”

“You…are you nervous?” Jungwoo prodded carefully to which Donghyuck gave a nod.

**“I am too…Renjun and I are getting married.”**

“Really?” Mark pulled Renjun’s hand towards him to look at the ring glinting at the corner, “This is a cheap ass ring.”

“Yeah, he proposed to me with the same ring you were supposedly going to give to Donghyuck. Fun fact, it was also bought with my money from a thrift shop.”

**“From that day?”**

**“That day.”**


End file.
